Motu 2408 hardware choice.

[Eric White]

Hello SAC hardware experts,

I am getting ready to pull the trigger on getting a PCI-e 424 MOTU card and I need to add the 2408 boxes too. My question is this...

Is there any appreciable difference between the 2408, MKii and MKiii boxes? Anything that I should avoid? I am converting from Digi9652 cards to this and want to run at the lowest latency I can get with high channel counts.

Much appreciated -Eric

[jlklein]

I am getting ready to pull the trigger on getting a PCI-e 424 MOTU card and I need to add the 2408 boxes too. My question is this...

Is there any appreciable difference between the 2408, MKii and MKiii boxes? Anything that I should avoid? I am converting from Digi9652 cards to this and want to run at the lowest latency I can get with high channel counts.

In a nutshell,
Mk1 - limited to 16 bit and unbalanced I/O
Mk2 - 24 bit and balanced I/O
Mk3 - updated Mk2 with SMPTE capabilities and got rid of internal battery for default setup memory.

I would stick with the Mk3, as you can get a decent deal for the newest version. Soundwise, Mk2 and Mk3 are the same, but there's no internal battery to worry about with the Mk3 so no worries about losing settings when powering off or if the PC dies.

I've got all Mk3's and one Mk2. The Mk2 sometimes doesn't sync up right and I have to power cycle it. I got another Mk3 to replace it as it's bit me a couple times if I miss it on startup.

HTH,
Jeff

[ssrsound]

MkIII can run at 96 hz if you want to do so, but you have to cut your channel count in half (12 instead of 24). Other than that I never found much reason to pay the extra $$ when using it the way we use it with SAC. In fact, I feel like the Mk1 is just fine. The MkI to MkII main difference was going from RCA to TRS 1/4" on the analog ins... but I don't use the analog ins anyway.

[ssrsound]

In a nutshell,
Mk1 - limited to 16 bit and unbalanced I/O
Mk2 - 24 bit and balanced I/O
Mk3 - updated Mk2 with SMPTE capabilities and got rid of internal battery for default setup memory.

16-bit on the Mk1 only affects analog in/out. The ADAT in is the same on both units (24/48).

The battery thing is nice... though I bought all my MK1 units on eBay, and immediately opened them up to change the battery. Its a standard battery computer-type battery you can get at Office Depot (or at least I did). They last a long time.

[Eric White]

Im only using them to get adat connections out to the preamps. I have no interest in the analog in's or out's of the 2408. Should I be looking at a different MOTU product to connect to the 424 card? I use 64 channels for theatre work. I also need 64x1 or lower performance for my band customers. I use external AD/DA preamps. I am shifting away from the Digi9652 because of performance and motherboard PCI connection problems. I appreciate your input, i just want the meanest freakin rig I can put together.

Thanks -Eric

[ssrsound]

I guess what I'm saying is that for the features you're going to use it for, any of the three (mk1, mk2, mk3) will be equal. The 324/424 cards are backward compatible, so you can use the oldest 2408 units just fine with the new 424 PCIe cards.

So if you want to get the latest and greatest and be sure you have the support of a currently shipping product, get the Mk3. If you want to get them as cheap as you can, get MkI or MkII units used (and change the battery so you know you've got a fresh one that's going to last a couple of years).

I run my setup at 32x2 with two 2408 MkI units and one 2408 MkII unit. I'm using a 324 PCI card. The 424 PCIe card will do better.

[Eric White]

Thanks, really useful information.


-Eric

[RBIngraham]

If all you want is ADAT I/O then any of the tree models will do. But I personally would recommend going with MK3 units if you can get them at a reasonable price. To me that lack of the battery issue is worth it. They also seem more solidly built in my opinion and have better (i.e. more modern looking) meters and status indicators.

I don't think you are looking at it, but don't get a 324 card. They are long in the tooth and very picky about motherboards. Get a 424 card. PCIe is the best but the PCIx (which is just a normal PCI card for a 5v or 3.3v slot) cards work just fine as well. Plus the 424 cards will give you 4 Audiowire slots rather than 3. That extra I/O can come in handy even though it ends up being more I/O than SAC is capable of.

Personally I think the Analog I/O on the 2408s is very useful. I don't bother worrying about getting preamps that have analog outputs anymore. I use the analog outputs on the MOTU 2408 units and I have a couple of 1224 units as well that I use almost exclusively for their analog outputs. This means I only need preamps to do the A to D aspect of it. Plus the MOTU outputs sound better than most of the other D to A units that are typically used with SAC. (at least to a couple of the golden ears types on the forum, looking at past threads, I never bothered to compare myself)

So I say if you can afford to, and find a decent deal, get the MK3 units. I have 2 MK3 units and a stack of MK1 units.

Also the MK1 units are 20 bit analog I/O not 16 bit. But yes they are unbalanced RCA I/O. I only use those with ADAT connections and most days now I use them only for a few extra inputs here and there or to tie in my audio playback computers digitally. (running SFX, etc..)

Look at the web site in my signature, plenty of system diagrams to browse through.

The advantage to using something like the 1224 for most of the system outputs (and no inputs) is that no matter what the stand alone settings are, I never have the issue of inputs being routed to outputs at full volume. This is issue is why it's important to make sure you set up the stand alone settings properly on any 2408 unit. Search through the forum, it's been discussed many times now. But you don't want ADAT Inputs going to ADAT outputs at full volume when the computer connection isn't present (or worse if it's lost mid show for some reason). And if the clock isn't set correctly you can end up with a nice blast of white noise... fun fun.....

[RBIngraham]

Also just a side note the 424 card's drivers do allow for 32 sample ASIO buffer sizes. It's a pretty noticeably CPU hit, but with a modern machine you may be able to make it work. I run at 2 x 64 all the time with no complains. If you need less than that I would suggest 2 x 32 rather than 1 x 64. If the computer will keep up. That allows for one buffer to be lost without a drop out. If it's 1 x 64 then one lost sample buffer and you get an error.

[Eric White]

Thanks Richard. I'd like to meet you sometime and buy you lunch if your ever back in Evansville again (schedule permitting ). I like to meet fellow forum members.